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Yes...it was a great weekend. Filled with lots of music, prayer, silence and fun! The B&B was fun too.....really decorated (antiques) to the max and very comfortable. We had two bedrooms, a little sitting room and a nice bath room. Breakfast was great both mornings in their lovely old home dining room. They were just like old friends and the owner was acutally a "lady pastor" of some little church there. It was fun.
The retreat was just too deep and meaningful to go in to here. But was soul-refreshing to say the least. Did a lot of "family-tree healing and searching"...pretty cool. so if you feel like people were praying for you......... we were!! :) It was a great experience. We would go there again, even though it was disconnected and disjointed at first...it ended up being great.
Thanks to all of you for your cards, phone calls, blogs, and thoughts!

St.Patty's Day

Yea....we are going on a short "road-trip" for St. Patty's Day! I am sooooooooo excited!
Now,mind you, this is not exactly a "rockin-n-rolling" weekend!! But will very special to me.
First of all....(anyone who is reading this already knows this) the 17th is my birthday and St. Patrick's Day always bring a flood of wonderful wonderful birthday's gone by (l-o-n-g gone by and many many of them! Not to say I am ancient yet, but getting dang close!
Second it is just wonderful to get to go anywhere with my wonderful husband! Since cancer hit him two years ago, some of our trips have had to put on hold. Anyway, today the doctor said that we will just continue with Rituxan and Prednisone next week and then two weeks after that and then see how things are going! FINE by me....that means no bad chemo right now anyway. The kidney doc said he is doing pretty good....creatinine level down to 3.6 (never will be normal again he says) and we hope to get it down even further - well, we can hope anyway. So...we have a few days or weeks to catch our breath.
So...Dave has been wanting to go on a "spiritual-healing-retreat" and asked if it was okay to celebrate St. Patty's Day "spiritually" this year! So...off we go. It sounds peaceful, prayerful, quiet and some great music and spiritual directors too. Small group they say. It is in Vandalia, IL. Yep, a little bit of a drive, but in Miss Jade (my new little Yaris, toyota) it will be nice!
Also, Dave got reservations in a little bed-n-breakfast spot.....(another new adventure for us) and Dave already likes the lady who owns it! So...again...off we go. We are so grateful to be able to make a nice trip together.
I was thinking this morning as I was driving us back from the doctors office, just how different it is to live ....REALLY LIVE...ONE-DAY-AT-A-Time. So easy to say it.....so different to actually live that way. And is so many ways, it is very peaceful to live that way! No long distance plans, and no worrying about the future whether that is next year, next month, next week...or...tomorrow. Just wake up...be thankful that we can look at each other when we do wake up....and then just tackle that day...alone. I get into "AWFULLIZING" sometimes...more often than Dave does...but I do try to keep my focus SHORT!!
Well that's it for now. I was amazed that I could get back into this!! Thanks to a friend of Stacey's for sending me a birthday wish!!! THAT was AWESOME....THANKS A LOT!! I just Love Stacey's friends!! They really "rock" !! :) :) I love Stacey too!!! She is certainly my most precious gift.
Bye for now! This is fun....I may acutally try it again sometime!
Peace - from Serenity!
Oh yes....may even sneak out for a little "green-beer" !!

Got out and back in! Hurrah

Well, I actually got into this blog and then signed out and believe it or not.....I got back in! I think I've got it!!
Sure do miss family. It is cold, lonesome and too quiet around here with Dave not speaking much and not feeling good. Oh how I would love to take Scruffy for a nice pontoon boat ride!! Well.....if it was 80 degrees and not zero with snow on the ground! I hate being "shut" in.
But the blogger kept me company today !!

Valentine's Day SNOW

We sure had a lot of snow! I am trying to post a picture on my blog...lets see if it works. I really am not sure how to do this. Can't find where you can change your
picture that is the profile....hummmmm? Maybe later! This
is enough of a challenge for today.

I did it...I think

Well I finally got to my blog....by changing my e-mail from my pwrtc acct to a yahoo acct. So now I hope it works. Will see! I need to try and find out how to put my picture instead of a dogs picture on my profile! I also need to see if I can re-open this when I look for it next time.
Lots more snow last last night and roads are slippery now. By tomorrow hopefully they will all be cleared and okay for traffic. I'll find out on my way to church. Monday is our big day...starting radiation. I hope Dave doesn't get too sick from the radiation. He has been really sick this week. Hardly was out of bed except to eat and do a little computer work, watch a little tv and then back to bed. Most of the mouth sores are gone now, except a bad one by the lower bottom back tooth. I am wondering if it might be a tooth infection instead of amouth sore. ? Guess we will ask the doc on Monday when we go. We are seeing another doctor after the radiation meeting at 11:30. Dr. AlMacki...at 3:45. He is the nephologist and the one that is concerned about the kidneys, needing dialysis, etc. I think Dr. Kahn ("coach") is the one that decided he would rather try radiation than put the stents into the kidneys from the back or go on to dialysis right away Hope he is right.
Well...now that I got in...let's see if I can post this, get out and perhaps even get back in!!
Thanks Stacey for trying to help...I am not sure if I messed it up more..or if it is fixed now! As long as I can find my Yahoo account I will be okay!
Later...

hello?

Boy, do I need help

I have been trying for about 4 days now to work on this Blog. I would like to enter some thoughts, but couldn't even find the "dashboard" until now! I finally went to Blogger help and at leat got this far. I would like to change my personal page picture and be able up upload pictures that I have taken with my camera that are in my computer. But I am a long way from being able to do that I think. I must just be a little brain dead. My heart and head are not working together these days. Dave has been sick and literally in bed most of each day now for the last week. We went to the cancer doctor last week and he cannot have any chemo until they get the kidneys fixed which means he has to have radiation first to shrink the tumor and/or tumors that are causing the blockage of the kidneys. He is nausious all the time, has a horrible sore throat - can't talk and can't hardly swallow. Not sure if it is infection or the cancer tumors growing. I can see the tumors in his jaws and under his chin. He will have to have 25 days of radiation before they can get back to chemo to shrink the tumors in his face. I sometimes wonder just how long he really has and how sick he is really going to be before this thing takes him out. He is pretty cranky these last few days because he feels just awful. He sleeps most of the time, but does get up and work at his computer and comes downstairs to try to eat...although nothing sounds good and it is hard for him to swallow. I am just hoping it is an infection and this ammoxicillan will wipe it out. Only has one more pill for tomorrow and he doesn't seem any better yet. Of course, we are expecting from 10 to 15 inches of snow tomorrow and Wednesday! And Wednesday is supposidly when we go to Lafayette for radiation. Not going to happen if this blizzard happens because our roads get so much wind blowing across that they become a whiteout.
Well...I have at least posted something! Even if it isn't good thoughts. Hope I can log in again some other time. I tried to do the switch to the Google account, but I don't think it worked. I think I am too old, too tired and too dense to learn this new stuff.
Enough for now.

Daev and I from July

Dave at Transplant House

These are pictures from our last visit - we are headed back today, though it will be a lot colder this trip!

Gift of Life Transplant House

I'm not too sure about me in this picture, but I love the House!

Main building pictures

gonda building at Mayo's

Sunday

Nice day...went to mass in Logansport and then to breakfast with Dave and Nancy Brandt -- my cousin and Scruffy's favorite babysitters! Had a nice time although Dave was really tired and on the verge of being nautious. All his counts are at rock bottom today and he feels cold. This is really ugly stuff. I wrote his update on his carepages....this is getting to be too much to do both! I have trouble with one update! ha.
Heard from West Virginia. Seems Davey left luggage on the bus in Beckly, WVA. So they called here. I called Shelby and told her...she said he was in awful shape...seems he took about 80 of the anxiety pills that had made him goofy here too. He couldn't walk, wasn't functioning, not eating, etc. etc. Guess he wasn't worried about how he looked to her when he arrived there.
I still don't get it.
Well...I have to go cheer on Peyton and the Colts ...even if he is brother to brother and nose to nose in this game.
Later...

cold stuff

Well I just have too many places to write now days. I have created a carepage on Dave that all the folks at Mayo's use to just update his daily routine and happenings. Not always good. If any of you want his care page, send me an e-mail and I'll send you the information. It is just a daily diary of how he feels, so really exciting reading material!
For now he is still nausious, (just tossed his cookies a little while ago) and so tired. He just has no enery at all. He went to have his blood work done this morning and then went toBurger King for a breakfast sandwich and it about wore him out. Tomorrow he has to go to Lafayette for more fluids because the creatinine level is still at 2.2 which isn't good. I will drop him off and then go drop Davey off at the Bus depot. He is going back to West Viriginia. I don't understand why, but he is. Guess he is happy about going back. It's a mystery to me.
Well looking for something COLD for Dave to eat. He is still coughing a lot and nothing sounds good to him to eat. This is an ongoing situation with chemo patients and I am afraid he has a long long way to go. It is a rough journey.
Later...
Pat